THE PROBLEM: This study investigated students' perceptions of the English Village Program at the Fong Shan Elementary School in Kaohsiung County, Taiwan. The main objectives of this research were to discover the fifth graders' motivation and attitudes toward (a) the simulated theme classrooms, (b) the native English-speaking teacher's instruction,…

This article provides basic information on how a common species of earthworm, "Eisenia fetida," can be used in the biology classroom as well as a discussion of how to establish and care for a vermicompost bin. We discuss ideas for inquiry activities with the organism and provide a sample-guided inquiry that demonstrates how a long-term,…

Genre-based approaches to teaching writing have made important strides in heightening students' awareness of audience and purpose but have paid less attention to the ways in which expectations for written performance in school context are embedded in expectations for certain kinds of discipline-based thinking. In this paper we present a study that…

Rembrandt's art lends itself as a fertile resource for teaching and learning social studies. His art not only captures the social studies themes relevant to the Dutch Golden Age, but it also offers a description of human relations transcending temporal and spatial frontiers. Rembrandt is an imaginative storyteller with a keen insight for minute…

The present study aimed to investigate the current music practices and teachers' needs for teaching music in public preschools of South Korea. The data were obtained from the public preschools in South Korea, where 66.7 percent (n = 606) of the total sample (N = 908) responded. The online survey consisted of 42 questions: Likert-type scales,…

The kindergarten teachers in the Levittown School District implement an extended day to enhance academic and social development of their students. A description of the literacy and motor skills cluster program and specific examples of a thematic instructional unit are included. Teachers receive professional development and training and are…

Recent books about survival in extreme circumstances are discussed. (JH)

The author describes an activity day during the Thanksgiving Day holidays in which games of physical skill were developed dealing with themes of turkeys, Pilgrims, and Indians. (MJB)

By classifying and analyzing actual disputes in film criticism, the author considers the following questions: Are there connections between film theory and film criticism? If so, which are healthy and which are diseased? If not, what alternative healthy function might film theory have? (Author/SJL)

In the light of the government's Excellence and Enjoyment primary strategy, the current emphasis on well-being arising from Every Child Matters and recent moves by the QCA, Creative Partnerships and OFSTED to promote creative thinking, and cross-curricular and thematic approaches in Key Stages 1, 2 and 3, teacher education is looking again at…

Mrs. Keenan, a preschool teacher, observed her 3-year-old granddaughter Riley pull, tug, and stack piles of holiday boxes on the floor. She remembered that her child care director had suggested using boxes as a curriculum theme, but she hadn't given much thought about the idea until now. She said to herself, "I wonder if my children would be as…

A given discipline and the relationships contained within it are frequently portrayable in diagrammatic or schematic form. The model offered in this article may serve to convey ideas on organization and purpose in geography by showing basic elements and relationships. (Author)

Five elementary teachers explain how they orient pupils and get learning started on the first day of school--whether or not their supplies or textbooks have arrived--by building learning activities around a common interest like dogs, earthworms, football, or the Statue of Liberty. (Editor/SJL)